Canadian Film Weekly (Mar 3, 1943)

Vol. 8, No. 10 4 Address all communications—Tho Managing Editor, Canadian Film Weekly, 21 Dundas Square, Toronto, Canada. Published by Film Publications of Canada, Ltd., 5th Floor, 21 Dundas Square, Teronto, Ont., Canada. Phone ADelaide 4310. Price 5 cents each or $2.00 per year. Entered as Second Class Matter ‘A Safe and Orderly Exit’ That's the heading the Ottawa Journal used to introduce an editorial of gratification over the fine manner in which fire danger was averted at the Rideau Theatre. It is important that the motion picture industry retains the confidence of the patrons that the theatre is a safe place to go, a difficult thing to maintain in the face of the tragic fires of recent date. Said the editorial: A fire broke out on Wednesday evening next door to Ottawa’s Rideau theatre, where 1,000 persons were enjoying a film program. The mangger of the theatre told his patrons they were not in any danger but it was considered wise to empty the building. The emergency doors were opened, attendants directed proceedings, and in a few minutes all these hundreds of men and women were outside. There was not the least sign of panic, no shouting or crowding. Actually the theatre was not damaged, and nobody would have come to harm had the crowd remained inside, but the precaution was wisely taken. = Here was a situation which had the elements of tragedy— remembering the night club fire in Boston, and the Newfoundland catastrophe, one realizes what could have happened. Thus the incident demonstrates again the extreme importance of prompt and intelligent handling of such a crisis. Here the manager and staff of the theatre put into action plans carefully made for just such an emergency, the crowd co-operated fully, and because all concerned showed presence of mind a potential tragedy became a well-organized fire drill. Another item dealing with the same situation which appeared in the Ottawa Journal under the heading, “Theatre Notices Prove Their Value” was: “In case of emergency, trust the advice of our staff; they are trained in the interests of your safety,” is the advice being run currently on the screens of many Ottawa theatres. Proof of its worth was seen when fire swept through the block adjoining the Rideau Theatre, 160 Rideau street, Wednesday night. Members of the staff were at their posts when news of the fire was given the audience anfl within a few minutes the building was emptied in good order. The special precautions are due to the tragic outcome of the recent fires In Boston, Mass., and St. Fear Arthur Lee | Ask Juve Ban In Manitoba Air Crash Victim | (Continued from Page 1) Canadian FILM-WEEKLY Maron 8, 3048 Quebee Resolution — (Continued from Page 1) marily due to the entrance intounderstandings among nations, March 8, 1943 = 2 YE BOSSIN, Managing dltor kee Clipper crash in Portugal. Mr. Lee is believed to have been on his way to England to collabonate with Sir Alexander Korda on a film now in production in London. While officially a resident of Harrison, N.Y., Mr. Lee has a summer home near Parry Sound, Georgian Bay. Born in New York City, he became associated with the motion picture industry in 1912 and a year later joined General Film Co. Montreal. Later he was appointed manager of the special feature department of the firm. His son, William, is a sergeant gunner overseas with the RCAF, and a daughter, Miss Betty, is attending Edgewood Park Junior College, Briar Cliff, N.Y. tween the group, whose spokesman was A. V. Pigott, prominent educator, and BE. K. Williams, acting for the motion picture industry. When asked by a member of the committee why the choice of pictures couldn’t be left to the parents, Mr. Pigott answered that they could not be relied on to interest themselves in the matter. Mr, Williams, in expressing his confidence in parents’ ability to choose pictures for their children, pointed out that the proposed regulations would move children out of range of the screen's inspirational war effort messages. The present provincial censorship, he asserted, took care of things satisfactorily. the picture of new forces growing out of war. On the contrary they are merely the persistent and costly results of basic community disorganization which has been little affected except to be made somewhat more acute either by war or Gepression. The Motion Picture Act of 1928 is one example. “The Motion Picture question Is @ social problem which touches every one of us, A critical and complicated situation, which by concerted thought and effort we must try to solve, “Previous to the Laurier theatre catastrophe, thousands of children attended the motion pictures regularly. After the catastrophe, a law was passed excluding all children under 16 years of age. Did the people responsible for passing this law consider what amusement those children would have in the replacement of the movies? Were they conscious that by passing such a law they went from coddling to severity, without hitting a happy medium? Did they realize that the familiar but true saying “When you open one door to enjoyment and healthy pleasure you close a dozen avenues to sin and shame’ would be reversed? Did they visualize that this law as it exists would encourage disrespect for the civil Jaw and encourage children to frequent certain restaurants and other questionable resorts? Do our citizens realize that there are at least 800 theatres in the province where films are shown that charge a fee, are firetraps and lack proper supervision? Are they aware that the showing of certain types of pictures in what are known as high delinquency areas is in some measure like selling whiskey to restricted individuals against which there are justIy severe laws and heavy penalties? “The points upon which every one of us whether as parent or as taxpayer urgently desires information are:—What are the movies likely to do to my child? How are they likely to affect, if at all, the children and young people of our country, the parents and citizens of the future? What influence will they. bring to our homes, into the great majority of homes in our country? Are they in their presen: form an asset or a liability to the progress of our national development and consciousness? “In brief the answers to those questions are:—bad movies are eceasions of sin, they seduce young people along the ways of evil by glorifying the passions; j they show life under a false light; ; they cloud ideals; they destroy pure love, respect for marriage «nd affection for the family. They ,are capable also of creating pre| judices among individuals, mis ! ' umong social classes and among entire races. Good motion pictures on the contrary are capable of exercising a profoundly moral influence upon those who see them, In addition to affording recreation, they are able to arouse noble ideals of Jife, to communicate valuable conceptions, to impart better knowledge of the history and beauties of our own and other countries, to present truth and virtue under attractive forms, to create at least the flavor of understanding among nations, social classes and races to champion the cause of justice, to give new life to the claims of virtue and to contribute positively to the genesis of a just social order in the world. “The last question. Are motion picture in their present form an asset or a liability to the progress of our national development and consciousness? The answer is: — As the law now exists in this province, the motion picture is a liability detrimental to the welfare, health and education of many children. If the law is rigidly enforced it will continue to be a liability with far reaching effects due to the reaction at 16 years of age. (The less experience the audience have the less selective they naturally are.) “If a motion picture can change Sympathies and attitudes and affect conduct, it becomes of enormous importance as a factor in our education, in our standards, in all the social fabric of our lives. So important does it become that if it falls short of the best and highest quality attainable, the entire country should feel instantly moyed to eradicate whatever defects it carries, in view of its influence upon the young, and to make it as nearly perfect as human agency can. It becomes therefore a matter of fundamental and critical importance to parents of the land that what their children see should build up rather than break down the principles of conduct. The movies are a school, a school of conduct, a sort of supplementary System of education and if the movies are that they cease to be nobody’s business, They are a school system virtually unlimited. They could be an immense and unprecedented instrument of culture. Whenever what is called a good picture is produced, evidence is plentiful to show that those who see it, notably the young, are instantly affected by it. “We believe in high standards of living. We believe in sanitation, in pure food, in pure milk, in the best obtainable hygiene instruction and education for our children. Is it possible that the color and content of their minds is a matter of indifference to us? We pay for (Continued on Page 7)